iron

noun

1. (uncountable)A common, inexpensive metal, silvery grey when untarnished, that rusts, is attracted by magnets, and is used in making steel: a chemical element having atomic number 26 and symbol Fe.

   “Today we studied about metals — including iron — at school.”

   “They gather one by one, trickling into the shady courtyard, the familiar hum of Mass. Ave. wafting in from behind brick buildings and iron gates.”

2. (countable, uncountable)Any material, not a steel, predominantly made of elemental iron.
3. (countable)A tool or appliance made of metal, which is heated and then used to transfer heat to something else; most often a thick piece of metal fitted with a handle and having a flat, roughly triangular bottom, which is heated and used to press wrinkles from clothing, and now usually containing an electrical heating apparatus.
4. (countable, uncountable)Any of several other tools traditionally made of wrought iron, now usually of steel.
5. (countable, plural-normally, uncountable)Shackles.
6. (countable, slang, uncountable)A firearm, either a long gun or a handgun.

   “It's many niggas now totin' iron.”

   “Ah, throw that old iron over here! We'll pick it up and go on our way.”

   “the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip”

7. (uncountable)A dark shade of the color silver.
8. (Cockney, countable, offensive, slang)A male homosexual.
9. (countable, uncountable)A golf club used for middle-distance shots.

   “The brassey much resembled the driver, but the iron opened out quite a new field of practice; […]”

10. (figuratively, uncountable)Used as a symbol of great strength or toughness, or to signify a very strong or tough material.

    “ironman; a will of iron”

    “He appeared easygoing, but inside he was pure iron.”

11. (countable, uncountable)Weight used as resistance for the purpose of strength training.

    “He lifts iron on the weekends.”

    “I wanted Beauty, and what Nature had failed to supply, Iron would.”

12. (countable)A meteorite consisting primarily of metallic iron (mixed with a small amount of nickel), as opposed to one composed mainly of stony material.

    “Irons and stony irons can be much larger than stony meteorites and are much more visually striking, but make up only a few percent of all meteorites.”

13. (countable, uncountable)A safety curtain in a theatre.
14. (countable, slang, uncountable)A dumb bomb, one without guidance systems.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Made of the metal iron.
2. (figuratively, not-comparable)Strong (as of will), inflexible.

   “She had an iron will.”

   “He held on with an iron grip.”

   “an iron constitution”

   “Iron men”

   “[…]the fruit-garden, where every tree and walk had a remembrance—those iron links of affection.”

3. (not-comparable)Of or pertaining to the Iron people.

verb

1. (transitive)To pass an iron over (clothing or some other item made of cloth) in order to remove creases.

   “You'd be wise to iron that shirt before you wear it.”

   “Out of that tub had come the day before - Tess felt it with a dreadful sting of remorse - the very white frock upon her back which she had so carelessly greened about the skirt on the damping grass - which had been wrung up and ironed by her mother's own hands.”

2. (intransitive)To engage in such pressing of clothing.

   “They were washing and ironing all morning.”

3. (archaic, transitive)To shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff.

   “[...] is it he who is ironed like a malefactor—who is to be dragged on a hurdle to the common gallows—to die a lingering and cruel death, and to be mangled by the hand of the most outcast of wretches?”

4. (transitive)To furnish, clad, or arm with iron.

   “to iron a wagon”

name

1. The 57th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
2. A group of Ossetians of the northern Caucasus who speak the Iron Ossetian dialect.